"The conference fosters understanding about the needs and cultural experiences of our newest neighbors,” said Stephen Philion. “We need to incorporate immigrants into the fabric of Minnesota society. Assimilation is a two-way street.” Philion is director of the Faculty Research Group on Immigrant Workers in Minnesota, part of St. Cloud State’s Social Science Research Institute.

Between 1982 and 2008, more than one million immigrants from 182 nations sought homes in Minnesota, according to a 2010 report by the Minneapolis Foundation. About one-third have remained in Minnesota, contributing to the state’s economic vitality. Bruce Corrie, a business professor at Concordia University, St. Paul, has estimated that the state’s Asian and Latino immigrants account for $7 billion in annual purchases.

Attorney John Keller is executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, a non-profit that advocates for low-income immigrants and refugees. His topic is “The Impact of Arizona and Alabama Anti-immigrant Laws on Minnesota's Immigrant Efforts to Secure Citizenship Rights. View his website.

St. Cloud State cultural historian Christopher Lehman is a scholar of African American slavery and the author of five books about the African American experience. His address is titled “The African American Historical Experience in Minnesota as Migrants.” Learn more about Lehman.

City University of New York sociologist Ruth Milkman is an expert on labor and labor movements. Milkman has authored or co-authored nine books. She will discuss “Issues in Organizing Immigrant Workers on the East and West Coasts.” Visit her website.

Louis Mendoza is associate professor and chair of the University of Minnesota ’s Chicano Studies Department. He authored of the 2001 book “Historia: The Literary Making of Chicana and Chicano History.” He will speak on “Conversations Across Our America: Talking About Immigration and the Latinoization of the United States.” View his webpage.

Author, photojournalist and former union organizer David Bacon is an internationally known expert on migration. His most recent book is 2009’s “Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants.” He will speak on “The Political Economy of Criminalizing Immigrants.” View Bacon’s website. View a poster (PDF) about his April 10 presentation.

Brooklyn College political science professor Immanuel Ness is an expert on social and revolutionary movements, labor militancy, migrant worker resistance and class struggle. He is the author and editor of numerous publications, including the 2011 book “Guest Workers and Resistance to U.S. Corporate Despotism.” His topic is “Neo-liberal markets, Migration and Guest Workers.” View his website.

Meet the conference sponsors

In its third year, the conference is sponsored by these St. Cloud State entities: Faculty Research Group on Immigrant Workers in Minnesota, College of Liberal Arts, School of Public Affairs, School of Health and Human Services and Herberger Business School.

Off-campus sponsors include University of Minnesota Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota Chicano Studies Department, Macalester College Global Citizenship Institute, Initiative Foundation, MidCountry Bank, Service Employees International Union Local 26, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 1189, and the Gender Studies, Economics and Sociology departments at the College of St. Saint Benedict/Saint John's University.